transcendental

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: tran=scen=den=tal

CIDE DICTIONARY

transcendental, a. [Cf. F. transcendantal, G. transcendental.].

•  Supereminent; surpassing others; as, transcendental being or qualities.  [1913 Webster]
•  In the Kantian system, of or pertaining to that which can be determined a priori in regard to the fundamental principles of all human knowledge. What is transcendental, therefore, transcends empiricism; but is does not transcend all human knowledge, or become transcendent. It simply signifies the a priori or necessary conditions of experience which, though affording the conditions of experience, transcend the sphere of that contingent knowledge which is acquired by experience.  [1913 Webster]
•  Vaguely and ambitiously extravagant in speculation, imagery, or diction.  [1913 Webster]

  " In mathematics, a quantity is said to be transcendental relative to another quantity when it is expressed as a transcendental function of the latter; thus, ax, 102x, log x, sin x, tan x, etc., are transcendental relative to x."  [1913 Webster]

Transcendental curve (Math.), a curve in which one ordinate is a transcendental function of the other. -- Transcendental equation (Math.), an equation into which a transcendental function of one of the unknown or variable quantities enters. -- Transcendental function. (Math.) See under Function.

Syn. -- Transcendental, Empirical.

transcendental, n. 

 A transcendentalist.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

transcendental, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 = TRANSCENDENT.
2 a (in Kantian philosophy) presupposed in and necessary to experience; a priori. b (in Schelling's philosophy) explaining matter and objective things as products of the subjective mind. c (esp. in Emerson's philosophy) regarding the divine as the guiding principle in man.
3 a visionary, abstract. b vague, obscure.
4 Math. (of a function) not capable of being produced by the algebraical operations of addition, multiplication, and involution, or the inverse operations.
--n. a transcendental term, conception, etc.

Idiom

transcendental cognition a priori knowledge. Transcendental Meditation a method of detaching oneself from problems, anxiety, etc., by silent meditation and repetition of a mantra. transcendental object a real (unknown and unknowable) object. transcendental unity unity brought about by cognition.

Derivative

transcendentally adv.

Etymology

med.L transcendentalis (as TRANSCENDENT)

THESAURUS

transcendental

Elysian, Olympian, a cut above, above, abstract, abstruse, ahead, airy, algorismic, algorithmic, alien, aliquot, arcane, ascendant, autistic, beatific, beatified, better, blessed, capping, cardinal, celestial, chosen, decimal, deep, dereistic, differential, digital, distinguished, eclipsing, eerie, eminent, esoteric, ethereal, even, exceeding, excellent, excelling, exponential, exterrestrial, extramundane, extrasolar, extraterrene, extraterrestrial, fey, figural, figurate, figurative, finer, finite, fractional, from on high, glorified, greater, heavenly, hidden, higher, hypernormal, hyperphysical, hypothetical, ideal, idealistic, imaginary, impair, impossible, impractical, in ascendancy, in glory, in the ascendant, in the clouds, infinite, integral, irrational, logarithmic, logometric, major, marked, mysterious, negative, numeral, numerary, numerative, numeric, numinous, occult, odd, of choice, one up on, ordinal, otherworldly, outstanding, over, pair, paradisaic, paradisal, paradisiac, paradisic, poetic, positive, possible, preterhuman, preternatural, preternormal, pretersensual, prime, profound, psychic, quixotic, radical, rare, rational, real, reciprocal, recondite, rivaling, romancing, romantic, romanticized, secret, space, spiritual, starry-eyed, storybook, submultiple, super, superhuman, superior, supernal, supernatural, supernormal, superphysical, supersensible, supersensual, supramundane, supranatural, surd, surpassing, theoretical, topping, transcendent, transcending, transmundane, ultimate, unearthly, unhuman, unpractical, unrealistic, unworldly, upper, visionary, wish-fulfilling

ROGET THESAURUS

transcendental

Superiority

N superiority, majority, greatness, advantage, pull, preponderance, preponderation, vantage ground, prevalence, partiality, personal superiority, nobility, Triton among the minnows, primus inter pares, nulli secundus, captain, crackajack, supremacy, preeminence, lead, maximum, record, trikumia, climax, culmination, transcendence, ne plus ultra, lion's share, Benjamin's mess, excess, surplus, (redundancy), superior, greater, major, higher, exceeding, great, distinguished, ultra, vaulting, more than a match for, supreme, greatest, utmost, paramount, preeminent, foremost, crowning, first-rate, unrivaled peerless, matchless, none such, second to none, sans pareil, unparagoned, unparalleled, unequalled, unapproached, unsurpassed, superlative, inimitable facile princeps, incomparable, sovereign, without parallel, nulli secundus, ne plus ultra, beyond compare, beyond comparison, culminating, transcendent, transcendental, plus royaliste que le Roi, more catholic than the Pope increased, enlarged, beyond, more, over, over the mark, above the mark, above par, upwards of, in advance of, over and above, at the top of the scale, at its height, eminently, egregiously, preeminently, surpassing, prominently, superlatively, supremely, above all, of all things, the most, to crown all, kat exochin, par excellence, principally, especially, particularly, peculiarly, a fortiori, even, yea, still more, I shall not look upon his like again, deos fortioribus addesse.

Generality

N generality, generalization, universality, catholicity, catholicism, miscellany, miscellaneousness, dragnet, common run, worldwideness, everyone, everybody, all hands, all the world and his wife, anybody, N or M, all sorts, prevalence, run, general, generic, collective, broad, comprehensive, sweeping, encyclopedical, widespread, universal, catholic, catholical, common, worldwide, ecumenical, oecumenical, transcendental, prevalent, prevailing, rife, epidemic, besetting, all over, covered with, Pan-American, Anglican, Pan-Hellenic, Pan-Germanic, slavic, panharmonic, every, all, unspecified, impersonal, customary, whatever, whatsoever, to a man, one and all, generally, always, for better for worse, in general, generally speaking, speaking generally, for the most part, in the long run.

Unintelligibility

N unintelligibility, incomprehensibility, imperspicuity, inconceivableness, vagueness, obscurity, ambiguity, doubtful meaning, uncertainty, perplexity, spinosity, obscurum per obscurius, mystification, latency, transcendentalism, paradox, oxymoron, riddle, enigma, puzzle, diagnus vindice nodus, sealed book, steganography, freemasonry, pons asinorum, asses' bridge, high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, jargon, unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable, incognizable, inexplicable, inscrutable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, insolvable, insoluble, impenetrable, illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical, enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret), indecipherable, obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery, opaque, dense, undiscernible, misty, hidden, latent, indefinite, garbled, perplexed, undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous, mysterious, mystic, mystical, acroamatic, acroamatical, metempirical, transcendental, occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed, inconceivable, inconceptible, searchless, above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension, beyond one's depth, unconceived, inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable, unpredictable, unforeseeable, it's Greek to me.